I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to storage of optical fibre, and especially to storage of delicate fibres without extensive external sheathing.
II. Prior Art and Other Considerations
European patent specification 108590 describes a technique known as fibre blowing in which an optical fibre package is advanced through a duct by the viscous drag of a fluid, usually gaseous, medium. The fibre package may be fed into the duct by wheels or other means from a reel, or freely paid out from a coil. The fibre package installed by the fibre blowing technique may have a low density foam coating that provides a high surface area to weight ratio for the package, but in some instances it is possible to blow optical fibres that do not have additional foam or other sheathing, for example a `bare` fibre consisting of a core, cladding and primary acrylic coatings may be installed by fibre blowing. Such bare fibres are delicate, and therefore mechanical feeding techniques such as wheels to pull the fibre off a reel are preferably avoided. Also, due to the fine nature of such fibres, loose laid coils tend to become entangled by virtue of adjacent turns sticking to each other, so that rapid paying out from a loose coil is not satisfactory.